Labour got $431,917 in big donations. Their biggest individual donor was the Vela Family who gave them $100k. The unions gave $117,500 and individuals (mainly from arts/culture sector) gave $134,830. Also a total of $60,000 from corporates and lobby groups, $10,587 from Helen Clark and $9,000 anonymously through the Electoral Commission.

National got less than half as much as Labour in big donations. They got $207,001. John Key put in $30,000, some other individuals $30,001, $70,000 from corporates and a lobby group, and $77,000 anonymously through the Electoral Commission.

Greens were 4th largest for total big donations on $184,693. These were all individual donations with MPs putting in 70,725 and others $114,238.

NZ First got (assuming this return is accurate – the last three years were not) $111,999. The Velas gave $100,000 to their favourite boy and Sir Patrick Hogan also gave his thanks with $11,999.

The Family Party had $88,044. Destiny Church handed over $10,926, Paul Adams $41,037 and an Elias Kanaris $36,081

National’s level of “big” donations is very small. Part of that will be that some gave in 2007 (2011 will be interesting) but part is that the vast majority of National’s revenue comes from smaller donations. The members alone contribute between $1.5 and $2.0 million a year in small donations I would estimate.

Also somewhat amusingly, NZ First broke the law – again! They received a $2,190 donation from a foreigner on 22 October 2008. As it exceeds $1,000 it has to be paid to the Electoral Commission within 20 working days. They only paid it over on 12 December 2008.

Labour also received an overseas donations in excess of $1,000. They got $10,000 which they had to give up.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Election 2008, NZ Politics.
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All of this deserves greater analysis, as so much of the political finance debate over the last few years revolves around the issue of donations. So we need to look at the actual details of what is donated (or at least, what is declared by the parties).

I hope to delve a bit deeper into the figures when I get a chance. But as I point out in my own quick analysis (http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2009/05/labour-continues-to-be-the-party-of-big-money.html), it seems therefore that despite the common myth of the Labour Party being financially poor and the National Party being the party of big wealth, Labour is still just as much a big money party as National. And if you add up all the declared donations made to the Electoral Commission since it was made mandatory in 2006, you’ll find that Labour and National have received virtually the same amounts. My rough and quick calculations (which I’ll revise and update at some stage) show that over the 1996 to 2008 period, Labour has declared donations of about $5,321,000 and National has declared about 5,484,000.

I guess that with the benefit of hindsight, it shows how fatuous Labour’s “Buying elections with big money” arguments were during the whole EFA debacle. They got the most dosh, but they still got a whipping from the electorate. Oh dear; how sad; never mind

We all, and our media, needs to wake up to the fact that all over the world, “the big money supports the right wing of politics” is just a very past-its-use-by-date myth.

There are a range of reasons for this. A lot of the big money comes from young descendants of the people who made it in the first place, who are “agin” their forbears and who want to ingratiate themselves with the liberal social set. A lot comes from wealthy liberal media and performing arts types. A lot comes from the biggest business people who realise that anti-business government policies actually help them by making it harder for new competitors to get a start. A lot comes from business people who hope to avoid getting targeted, by feeding the tiger and appeasing it. Some hope that the politicians concerned might soften in office.

But the people who might support right wing parties, have the most to fear from mean-spirited retaliation by the left wing politicians when they get into power.

All told, it is the right wing that is now very much the poor man of politics.